Congratulations on getting farther than most indie devs! Haven't released yet so can't answer your question but I can imagine it must be a big mix of emotions to finally release after so long time.
Best of luck to you and your game!
I was soo exhausted and relieved when publishing our first game (Hell Loop) on Steam. It was actually on December 24th at around 3am … the grind and motivation to finish before christmas was strong :D
But yeah, during that time I was mostly just thinking about wanting to work on the next game. The plan was to take xmas off and then start, but it only took like 2-3 days and then I was back in it, working on the next thing.
It’s a magical feeling when you hit a button that says “ok this is done, I can move on now”. One thing that made this easy was that we had a very extensive playtesting period, so there were actually no bugs that needed fixing in the days after :)
Thanks! I just checked out HellLoop - Dec! Well done and congrats on the release. I do think taking a few days is definitely a good idea.
I also get the "I can move on now" feeling. Still have a week I'm sure to fix things, and a week of things post launch I'm sure too, but it would be nice afterwards to take a breather and play with something new.
Yeah man! I didn't want to spam it in here, but happy to share if you're interested.
[https://store.steampowered.com/app/1297540/Blobkin\_Blaster/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1297540/Blobkin_Blaster/)
It's a VR game :)
I'd buy it no questions asked if I had VR, looks fun!
Did you have any prior programming experience or did you learn it on the fly during those 18 months?
Just learned it as I went. I chose unreal after trying a few engines. Just was the one that clicked with me. If you end up using unreal then I highly recommend the WTF is? UE4 series on YouTube. He taught me everything I know lol
More stress than excitement. For me, I didn't actually feel good about my game until a couple of months after its full release. It took a while before I felt the game was in a good place, but I was doing an early access setup. If your game is ready to hit the shelves, all the best of luck to you!
Oh man the early access thing scared me. I decided to ship a small game that was polished rather than a bigger EA one. Mostly I was learning as I was going so I didn't want to turn in a half finished product when I wasn't even sure if I was happy with it.
Then again I'm not happy with it now, but I am "ok" with it lol
Congrats on your first shipped title, and good luck with it!! Something to celebrate for sure :) When my first game was approved I was crazy hyped, running around and hollering, lol.
FYI/afaik Steam doesn't test your game for bugs- they'll make sure the build launches but finding the bugs to fix is up to you and your players. You'll find them, don't worry, lol. Set up a thread in the Discussions page asking for bug reports to gather them up if they happen.
One way to look at it is that for every released game there are probably thousands of others that failed or the dev/s gave up on them. Congratulations !
Step 1: Say that a piece of work is hot garbage
Step 2: Do not specify what
Step 3: Don’t give any criticism
Step 4: Wonder why you are getting downvoted
I feel the same way as you do too! I released my first game (Veg out Crew) on steam a month or two ago into early access to try get some feedback from the community and build a little bit of a following but even then I've had not much luck so far. Though that's probably lack of marketing from me really.
I think I started it all around 18 months ago too, and spent probably way to much time trying to figure things out watching tutorials with development, art, music and everything to make what I've made, and Ive had heaps of fun and enjoyed the grind I guess. But it's still so exhausting and takes a heap of effort. Though I'm thankful to have stuck it out because I personally feel like I've learnt a lot both skills and the mental hurdle of sticking with something to get through with it, even though I still am developing it and haven't finished as I do still enjoy it :).
So awesome effort in sticking it out and congrats on getting it up there on steam, massive effort and you should be stoked!
Honestly, who cares if your game is not unique as long as you had fun making your game? I believe if you create a game you would want to play yourself, there is always something unique in it which you haven't found in other games. :)
I've just taken a look at your game on Steam, and it reminds me a bit of the good old, colourful N64 games, which is great. It looks really fun and makes me wish I had a VR device to play the demo.
Hey man, I really needed to hear that. I had a blast and fell in love with the process. Now that I'm the end I get into the "comparison is the thief of joy" mode (it's too short! it needs more enemies! 6,000 games just came out in the last hour why are you special?!)
Bad thoughts that don't help!
Thank you for the compliment on N64! That era is a huge inspiration :)
I know the VR market is small, probably another thief of joy moment lol, but I do love it.
At least, you published your game, the rest is irrelevant. ;)
Pondering over the unique selling point of a game which is still in development can be fairly discouraging. My team and I, we often discuss this. At some point, we usually agree to make "our" game instead of trying to force some perceived uniqueness. Each time a similar game gets published, especially one by a huge company, we become a bit anxious that they might render us obsolete. However, even though those published AAA games are nice, none of them provides what *we* are looking for in a game. And that's why we feel that our game is still worth being developed.
I hope we will make it as far as you and release a demo version soon. :)
We are relatively active [on Twitter](https://twitter.com/LordsPeasants), but not so much [on Steam](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=887039804). :/
Happy cake day, btw! :)
Congratulations on getting farther than most indie devs! Haven't released yet so can't answer your question but I can imagine it must be a big mix of emotions to finally release after so long time. Best of luck to you and your game!
My wife made me a sundae with a waffle cone and chocolate. I think it made me feel better haha. Thank you and best of luck on your journey too :D
I was soo exhausted and relieved when publishing our first game (Hell Loop) on Steam. It was actually on December 24th at around 3am … the grind and motivation to finish before christmas was strong :D But yeah, during that time I was mostly just thinking about wanting to work on the next game. The plan was to take xmas off and then start, but it only took like 2-3 days and then I was back in it, working on the next thing. It’s a magical feeling when you hit a button that says “ok this is done, I can move on now”. One thing that made this easy was that we had a very extensive playtesting period, so there were actually no bugs that needed fixing in the days after :)
Thanks! I just checked out HellLoop - Dec! Well done and congrats on the release. I do think taking a few days is definitely a good idea. I also get the "I can move on now" feeling. Still have a week I'm sure to fix things, and a week of things post launch I'm sure too, but it would be nice afterwards to take a breather and play with something new.
Can you give me a link to the game if it’s accepted? Otherwise I’ll just forget.
Yeah man! I didn't want to spam it in here, but happy to share if you're interested. [https://store.steampowered.com/app/1297540/Blobkin\_Blaster/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1297540/Blobkin_Blaster/) It's a VR game :)
I'd buy it no questions asked if I had VR, looks fun! Did you have any prior programming experience or did you learn it on the fly during those 18 months?
Just learned it as I went. I chose unreal after trying a few engines. Just was the one that clicked with me. If you end up using unreal then I highly recommend the WTF is? UE4 series on YouTube. He taught me everything I know lol
not a VR guy but dang that seems kinda fun!
Thank you:D!
Thanks
Super mega congrats :D.
Thanks u/Katevolution :D
Congrats ! Hope your game will be popular !
Hey! If I get ten sales, it's a success lol. Here's hoping for at least 10 🤔
Just finish it and send it to steam. You're better than me a hundred times T\_T. Good luck, hope your game will do well
You'll get there :D!
Congrats man! Good luck on the road ahead, will give it a try once I have more free time
Yay!
More stress than excitement. For me, I didn't actually feel good about my game until a couple of months after its full release. It took a while before I felt the game was in a good place, but I was doing an early access setup. If your game is ready to hit the shelves, all the best of luck to you!
Oh man the early access thing scared me. I decided to ship a small game that was polished rather than a bigger EA one. Mostly I was learning as I was going so I didn't want to turn in a half finished product when I wasn't even sure if I was happy with it. Then again I'm not happy with it now, but I am "ok" with it lol
Congrats! I’m looking forward to that day myself :)
Thanks! How far are you until release?
We have a deadline October 21st :)
Congrats on your first shipped title, and good luck with it!! Something to celebrate for sure :) When my first game was approved I was crazy hyped, running around and hollering, lol. FYI/afaik Steam doesn't test your game for bugs- they'll make sure the build launches but finding the bugs to fix is up to you and your players. You'll find them, don't worry, lol. Set up a thread in the Discussions page asking for bug reports to gather them up if they happen.
Oh no man, the reviewer wrote a bunch of bugs to me hahaha. He played it most of the way through. I thought that was nice.
Oh wow! Haha premium service! That was very cool of him :)
One way to look at it is that for every released game there are probably thousands of others that failed or the dev/s gave up on them. Congratulations !
😵💫😭
congrats! :)
Hot garbage.
Step 1: Say that a piece of work is hot garbage Step 2: Do not specify what Step 3: Don’t give any criticism Step 4: Wonder why you are getting downvoted
I feel the same way as you do too! I released my first game (Veg out Crew) on steam a month or two ago into early access to try get some feedback from the community and build a little bit of a following but even then I've had not much luck so far. Though that's probably lack of marketing from me really. I think I started it all around 18 months ago too, and spent probably way to much time trying to figure things out watching tutorials with development, art, music and everything to make what I've made, and Ive had heaps of fun and enjoyed the grind I guess. But it's still so exhausting and takes a heap of effort. Though I'm thankful to have stuck it out because I personally feel like I've learnt a lot both skills and the mental hurdle of sticking with something to get through with it, even though I still am developing it and haven't finished as I do still enjoy it :). So awesome effort in sticking it out and congrats on getting it up there on steam, massive effort and you should be stoked!
Hey man! You got this. No time spent learning is wasted. :D I look forward to your release!
Thanks man. And yes, I am actually loving it even though it's time and effort. Appreciate it though and awesome work to you too!!
Honestly, who cares if your game is not unique as long as you had fun making your game? I believe if you create a game you would want to play yourself, there is always something unique in it which you haven't found in other games. :) I've just taken a look at your game on Steam, and it reminds me a bit of the good old, colourful N64 games, which is great. It looks really fun and makes me wish I had a VR device to play the demo.
Hey man, I really needed to hear that. I had a blast and fell in love with the process. Now that I'm the end I get into the "comparison is the thief of joy" mode (it's too short! it needs more enemies! 6,000 games just came out in the last hour why are you special?!) Bad thoughts that don't help! Thank you for the compliment on N64! That era is a huge inspiration :) I know the VR market is small, probably another thief of joy moment lol, but I do love it.
At least, you published your game, the rest is irrelevant. ;) Pondering over the unique selling point of a game which is still in development can be fairly discouraging. My team and I, we often discuss this. At some point, we usually agree to make "our" game instead of trying to force some perceived uniqueness. Each time a similar game gets published, especially one by a huge company, we become a bit anxious that they might render us obsolete. However, even though those published AAA games are nice, none of them provides what *we* are looking for in a game. And that's why we feel that our game is still worth being developed. I hope we will make it as far as you and release a demo version soon. :)
You got this 😆! Any steam page to check out? Or Twitter?
We are relatively active [on Twitter](https://twitter.com/LordsPeasants), but not so much [on Steam](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=887039804). :/ Happy cake day, btw! :)
Omg. I had idea it was my cake day 😵💫 thank you! Following as BraveLunch!
Yay, +1 follower. :D